Windmill



A. STAGG WINDMILL March 4, 1947.

Filed May 23 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I Z Z 1 March 4, 1947. A. STAGG 7 2,417,022

WINDMILL Filed May 23, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fiLLEN sTAse Patented Mar. 4, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WINDMILL Allen Stagg, Vega, Tex.

Application May- 23, 1945, Serial No. 595A68 3 Claims. 1.

This invention relates to Windmills and particularly to a windmill coupled to an electric generator or other power means.

Anobject of this invention is to provide a windmill having a pivoted vane for maintaining the wheel in the wind and an improved means for adjusting the position of the vane so that the latter may be moved to an inoperative position.

Another object of this. invention is to provide in a windmill construction a centrifugally operated clutch for coupling the drive shaft connected with the Wind wheel to a power means.

A further object of this invention is to provide a construction of this kind wherein the parts which are exposed to the weather are encased in tubular means so that they will not become injured by weather conditions.

A further object of this invention is to provide in an adjustable wheel guiding vane, an improved means for pivotally mounting the vane so that it can be maintained in. an inoperative or operative position.

A further object of this invention is to provide in a windmill construction of this kind an improved means for maintaining the wind Wheel in confronting position to the Wind. which will elim-.. inate the use of weights or springs.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a detailed side elevation partly in vertical section and partly broken away, of a windmill construction according to. an embodie merit of this invention.

Figure 2 is top plan view of the device.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the cam mermber associated with the tail vane.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional View taken on the line 55 of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral l6 designates generally a tower which is formed of a plurality of upwardly convergent supporting bars ll, having secured to the upper ends thereof a plate or head 12. A housing, generally designated as M, is mounted on the upper end of the tower or support to and comprises front and rear walls i5 and 15, respective y, and a substantially circular side wall H. The side wall I! is formed with a flat lower side l3 which is formed with a ball race l8 with which antifriction balls H) are engaged. The head. plate I2 is also formed with an annular ball race 2!] with which the antifriction members 19 are engaged so that the housing [4 may freely rotate about a vertical axis.

A tubular member 2! threaded into the,

lower wall l3 of the housing M and is loosely eirtended through an opening 22 which is formed in the head member 32. The tubular member 2! is also rotatably disposed through a ring 23 which is supported below the head member !2 by means of a plurality of radially arranged adjustable supporting rods 2d. The rods 2t include turn-buckles 25 so that the lower end of the tubular member 2! will be rotatably supported in a vertical position and will be free to rotate about a vertical axis.

A wind wheel 25 which includes a plurality of blades. 2i secured to a shaft 28 is disposed at the front side of the housing i i, the blades 21 being carried by a central hub 2t and braced with respect to the hubisii by means of a plurality of forwardly extending bracing rods 39;. The bracing rods 3% are secured to a centrally disposed rod or shaft 3! extending forwardly from the hub 29, The shaft 23 is rotatably mounted in a bushing 32- which is icrmed integral with or carried by the front wall l5 and the shaft 28 has secured to its inner end within the housing is a large beveled gear 33. A tubular shaft 34 which is disposed in a vertical position terminates at its upper end within the housing it and has secured thereto a beveled gear which meshes with the bevel driving gear A hearing plate mounted on the inner side of the bottom wall t of housing H3 and anti-friction ballet? are interposed between the bearing plate Sii and the lower of he gear A side vane is disposed rearwardly of the wheel 25 extending at right angles to the length of the shaft 28 and supported outwardly from the housing M by of elongated supporting bar 39. The outward position of the vane or plate 33 may be regulated by means of a set screw in. The housing Hi has extending from the rear wall It thereof a plate 4! which is braced in a horizontal position by means of a bracing web 42. The plate M is substantially semicircular in plane and has secured to the upper side thereof an arcuate cam member The cam member i3 is formed with an inclined upper surface i l which is formed with an abutment or stop to at its high point and is formed with an arcuate recess lii at its low point. The cam member as is formed with a pair of ears extending from the opposite ends thereof which are secured by fastening roern hers 618 to the upper side or" the supporting plate M. A rearw rdly extending 253 is carried by the rear wall It of the housing is and has extending vertically therethro-ugh shaft or bolt 50. which also extends through the plate 6%. The shaft constitutes a supporting shaftfor a tail vane. 5!. The tail vane 5i is secured to a supporting bar 52 which is formed with a bifurcated inner end portion 53 having bosses 5 1 through which the shaft 5% loosely engages. The lower arm 55 of the fork 53 has secured to or formed integral therewith a pair of cars 56 between which a roller 57 is rotatably mounted. The roller 5! is carried by a roller shaft 58 engaging through the ears 56 and the roller 57 engages the upper surface of the cam member lit. The arcuate recess at the low end of the cam member at is provided in order that the roller 57 may engage therein for locking the vane 5i in axial alignment with the shaft 28 at which time the vane 5| is in its operative position.

In order to provide for adjustment of the tail vane 5| from an operative to an inoperative position, the latter being shown in dotted lines in Figure 2, I have provided a flexible tail vane regulating member as. The flexible member 59 is secured at one end as at kill to the supporting member 52 for the tail vane and is then trained through a sheave 6! which is secured to the outer portion of the side vane supporting rod 39. The tail vane adjusting cable 59 is then trained over a pulley '62 which is journaled in a bearing '63 formed in the top of the housing l 4.

The housing it is provided with an opening 64 through which the cable 59 is extended and this cable is then extended downwardly and centrally through the hollow shaft 35. he cable 59 is then trained about a drum 65 carried by supporting member 68 which is secured to a platform 61. The drum 65 has correlated therewith a ratchet 68 with which a pall 69 carried by the supporting member 66 is engaged so that drum 65 will be selectively held against rotation. A crank it is secured to the drum shaft and provides a means whereby the drum may be rotated for either Winding or unwinding the cable thereon.

The lower end of the shaft 34 has secured thereto one member H of an anti-friction bearing which is in the form of a collar, and a second bearing member 12 is fixed to the upper side of the platform 5i confronting the bearing member H. Anti-friction balls 73 are interposed between the two bearing members fl and I2 so'that tubular shaft 3: may freely rotate with a minimiun of friction.

A weighting fly wheel it is secured to the shaft 34 adjacent the lower end thereof and provides a means for equalizing the rotation of the shaft 34. A pulley 75 is loose on the tubular shaft 34 at a point above the platform 67, and is formed at its lower side with a clutch face 76. A complementary clutch member ll is splined as at F8 on the shaft 3d and is adapted to be urged upwardly to clutching position by centrifugal means which includes a plurality of curved arms is having weights St at their lower ends. The arms 79 engage the lower side of the lower clutch member H and are rockably supported on the tubular shaft 34 between pairs of ears Bl which are fixed relative to the shaft E i. The pulley 75 has trained thereabout'a belt 82 and this belt is also trained about a pulley 83 carried by a shaft S4 disposed laterally of the drive shaft 3 5.

The shaft 8-; is iournaled through a bearing 85 which is carried by a base structure, generally designated as 83. The shaft 8 5 also has fixed thereon a beveled gear 8! which meshes with a larger beveled gear 88 secured to a counter-shaft 89. The counter-shaft 89 is journaled in a pair of bearings 98 and 9! which are carried by transverse supporting members 92 and 93, respectively, forming part of the base 86. A relatively large diameter pulley 94 is secured to the countershaft 89 and has trained thereabout a belt 95 which is also trained about a small pulley 96 secured to a generator shaft 97. The generator shaft 97 is correlated with an electric generator 98 which is adapted to be operated when shaft 3a is rotated, and clutch members 16 and 11 are in clutching position. A pair of power take-01f pulleys 99 and mo of different diameters are also secured to the counter-shaft 89 so that additional belts may be coupled to counter-shaft 89 for operating desired appliances.

In the use and operation of this windmill, when it is desired to provide for rotation of the drive shaft 3 drum 65 is rotated so as to unwind the cable 59 therefrom and permit the wind striking the tail vane 55 which, in its inoperative position, confronts the direction of the wind to swing the tail vane 5i rearwardly into alignment with the wind wheel shaft 28. When the cable Eli is released, the roller 57, which will be at the high point of the cam 33, will gravitatingly roll downwardly toward the low end of the cam 43 until the roller 5'2 engages in the locking recess it.

As wind wheel 25 is rotated by the wind, shaft 34 will be rotated and when suincient speed has been attained, centrifugal weights 3t will swing the lower ends of the arms l9 outwardly and cause the upper outwardly curved ends thereof to raise the clutch member if to clutching position with the clutch face it. At this time, pulley will be rotated and the elements coupled to the pulley 15 will thereupon be operated through the pulley 83 and the shaft 8 By having the fly wheel 74 secured to the lower end of the tubular shaft 34, the speed of rotation of this shaft will be equalized and will be prevented from sudden pickup or drop in rotation so that a steady flow of power will be provided.

The side vane 33 also provides a governor construction which will balance the pressure of Wind on the wind wheel. As the wind pressure on the side vane increases, the housing I l will be rotated with the side vane and as the Wind will maintain the tail vane in substantially a stationary position, the roller 57 will ride up on the cam. As the side vane 38 causes the wind wheel to assume an angular position with respect to the direction of the wind, this wheel will be rotated at a slower speed than is normal for the wind pressure. When the wind pressure on the side vane 38 decreases, the tail vane 5i will swing on the pivot member 5i? to push the wheel or roller 5'! adjacent the lower end of the cam member 43. When the roller 5i engages in the recess 46 the wind wheel 28 will be operating at normal or predetermined speed for a predetermined wind pressure, but if this pressure should increase, the speed of wind wheel 26 will be reduced by wind pressure on side vane 38 causing the housing M and wind wheel 23 to swing at an angle to the direction of the wind. In this manner there will be maintained a relatively normal speed for the wind wheel and the shaft The side vane 38, therefore, constitutes a governor which is correlated with the pivoted tail vane 5i and the cam member 33 in maintaining the wind wheel 26 either facing the direction of the wind or disposed at an angle with respect to the wind.

What is claimed is:

1. A windmill comprising a supporting standard, a housing pivotally mounted on said standard for rotary movement about a vertical axis, a windwheel shaft journalled in said housing, a windwheel on said shaft, a vertical power shaft rotatably carried by said standard, motion transmitting means connecting the windwheel shaft with said power shaft and enclosed by said housing, a tail vane, means pivotally supporting said tail vane from said housing, an arcuate cam member, means supporting said cam member from said housing, said cam member having the upper surface thereof inclined to the horizontal and formed with a depression at the low end of said inclined surface, and a roller carried by said supporting means engaging said cam member and adapted when disposed in said depression to releasably lock said tail vane in alignment with said windwheel shaft.

2. A windmill comprising a supporting standard, a housing pivotally mounted on said standard for rotary movement about a vertical axis, a windwheel shaft journalled in said housing, a windwheel on said shaft, a vertical power shaft rotatably carried by said standard, motion transmitting means connecting the windwheel shaft with said power shaft and enclosed by said housing, a tail vane, means pivotally supporting said tail vane from said housing, an arcuate cam member, means supporting said cam member from said housing, said cam member having the upper surface thereof inclined to the horizontal and formed with a depression at the low end of said inclined surfaze, a roller carried by said supporting means engaging said cam member and adapted when disposed in said depression to releasably lock said tail vane in alignment with said windwheel shaft, a stabilizing vane, means supporting said stabilizing vane at right angles to said windwheel shaft, a flexible regulating member extending downwardly from said housing, a pulley carried by said supporting means for said stabilizing vane, said regulating member being trained over said pulley and fixed to said tail vane supporting means whereby downward pull on said regulating member will draw said tail vane toward said stabilizing vane to thereby hold said windwheel in inoperative position.

3. A windmill comprising a housing mounted for rotary movement about a vertical axis, a shaft rotatably supported by a wall of said housing, a wind wheel supported on said shaft exteriorly of the housing, a power shaft having an end thereof within said housing, motion transmitting means connecting the wind wheel shaft with said power shaft and enclosed by said housing, a tail vane pivotally supported on a wall of the housing opposite to the first mentioned wall, an arcuate cam member supported exteriorly of the housing and provided at one end with a stop and at a relatively opposite end with a recess, a roller carried by the tail vane and movable over said cam for coaction with the stop and recess of the latter, a stabilizing vane supported on said housing and extending at right angles to the wind wheel shaft, a flexible member trained through said housing and connected at one end with said tail vane and a pulley mounted on said stabilizing vane over which said flexible member is trained.

ALLEN STAGG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 217,147 Reed July 1, 1879 223,379 Page Jan. 6, 1880 361,894 Reibe Apr. 26, 1887 556,803 Bramwell Mar. 3, 1896 689,635 Carney Dec. 24, 1901 781,449 McPhail Jan. 31, 1905 1,722,845 Gonzalez et al July 30, 1929 2,247,929 Terhune July 1, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 715,089 French Sept. 21, 1931 

